ALBUQUERQUE—New Mexico’s Human Services Department proposed cuts to Medicaid would hurt families and violate federal law, said the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty in comments submitted yesterday on the department’s Centennial Care 2.0 waiver proposal.

“Everyone needs access to healthcare coverage,” said William Townley, an attorney with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. “But HSD’s proposed cuts to Medicaid would force many New Mexican families to go into debt or simply drop coverage. That’s bad news for all of us. We know that when people go without healthcare, it’s much harder for them to maintain their financial stability, be productive in the workforce, or continue their education.”

HSD’s proposal imposes new patient premiums on low-income adults living just above the poverty line. Research has shown that these fees will cause thousands of New Mexicans to lose healthcare coverage. For many low-income families, the proposed increase to $10 a month is prohibitive and would force them to choose between healthcare and other necessities like food, housing, and transportation.

Hospital bills are especially devastating for families on limited income, often ranging from $10,000 to over $100,000. Yet, HSD’s proposed cuts would also phase-out retroactive coverage, which pays for a Medicaid eligible person’s hospital and medical bills incurred up to three months before signing up for Medicaid. Phasing out retroactive coverage would put New Mexico’s families in jeopardy of severe medical debt and force healthcare providers to shoulder increased uncompensated care costs.

New Mexicans have voiced overwhelming opposition to HSD’s proposed cuts to Medicaid. Throughout the entire Centennial Care 2.0 waiver application process, patients, providers, stakeholders, researchers, advocates and community members were nearly unanimously opposed to these changes.

HSD’s proposed Medicaid cuts also violate federal law. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) can only approve waivers of federal Medicaid requirements that are listed under Section 1115 of the Medicaid Act. Provisions that govern cost-sharing, such as premiums, and retroactive coverage are outside of Section 1115, meaning CMS lacks legal authority to waive such requirements. CMS has not yet approved the regulatory changes proposed in HSD’s new regulations.

The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty is dedicated to advancing economic and social justice through education, advocacy, and litigation. We work with low-income New Mexicans to improve living conditions, increase opportunities, and protect the rights of people living in poverty.

ALBUQUERQUE—New Mexico organizations are fighting the Trump administration’s reckless new attack on our families: a greatly expanded “Public Charge” rule that essentially turns the U.S. immigration system into a pay-to-play game that unfairly favors the wealthy. If the proposed rule were to go into effect, it would allow the government to deny green cards and visa renewals to lawfully present immigrants who participate in programs that help with basic needs like medical care, food, and housing.

In New Mexico, immigrants make up a large part of our communities. Nearly one in 10 New Mexicans is an immigrant, and one in nine have immigrant parents. New Mexico stands to lose as many as 2,700 jobs and nearly $400 million in economic activity because eligible New Mexicans will forego federal benefits that flow directly into our local economy.

“Trump Charge is yet one more example of this administration’s agenda to target and persecute our communities,” said Fabiola Bawden, community organizer from El CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos. “We are proud of the economic, cultural, and social contributions that immigrant communities make in New Mexico and across the nation. We are ONE New Mexico and must continue to resist Trump’s attempts to push our families into further poverty, strip away legal protections that keep our families together, and rob us of the opportunity to fully integrate into the civic and economic life of the state and country we call home.”

Trump’s new rule dramatically expands the list of programs that jeopardize immigration status to include nearly all available basic need programs like Medicaid, housing assistance, and SNAP food assistance. Currently, the Public Charge rule only considers receipt of cash benefits and institutional care as a reason to deny lawfully present immigrants visa renewals or to deny their application for legal residency.

“No one should ever have to choose between putting food on the table and keeping their family together,” said Sovereign Hager, legal director of the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. “At least 77,000 U.S. children in New Mexico live with at least one immigrant parent and are in a family that receives basic assistance. Kids who get assistance with basic needs are healthier, do better in school, and earn more in the future. If this rule goes into effect, we will all face the consequences for generations to come.”

“The Trump administration continues to target immigrant communities,” said Eduardo García of the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center. “This is an effort to create confusion and fear among immigrants and discourage immigration and the use of benefits for immigrant families who qualify. We encourage all New Mexicans to submit comments against the proposed rule and stand up against this drastic change in policy.”

The new rule will not be retroactive, so the current use of food and medical benefits do not fall under the proposed rule. The groups recommend that people concerned about their immigration status continue participating in benefits programs and speak to an immigration attorney. If the rule is approved, it will not go into effect immediately after it is published. Families will have time to make decisions about benefits then.

“Through our daily work, we witness the devastating impact that poverty and the associated toxic stress have on individuals’ and families’ psychological and emotional well-being. The Trump administration is attacking a significant portion of the hardworking families in our communities,” said William Wagner, PhD, LCSW, Director of Centro Savila. “We cannot sit by while the Trump administration increases hunger, poverty, and sickness in our nation while handing out deep tax cuts to the rich. This endangers our families, communities, our state, and our country.”

“Thousands of New Mexico children – most of whom are U.S. citizens – will likely lose access to services because their parents will terminate their health insurance, food assistance, and more as a result of these proposed changes to the public charge definition,” said James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, a child advocacy organization. “It’s unconscionable that the Trump administration would take actions that will harm children across the nation.”

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Centro Savila improves the mental health of our community by ensuring access to linguistically and culturally relevant, quality mental health and prevention services, education and healthcare professional development.

EL CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos is a grassroots, immigrants’ rights and workers’ justice organization based in Central New Mexico that works with Latino immigrant communities and allies to defend, strengthen, and advance the rights of Albuquerque’s communities.

The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty is dedicated to advancing economic and social justice through education, advocacy, and litigation. We work with low-income New Mexicans to improve living conditions, increase opportunities, and protect the rights of people living in poverty.

New Mexico Voices for Children champions public policies that improve the well-being of New Mexico’s children, families, and communities in the areas of health, education, and economics through credible research and effective advocacy.

Proposed “Public Charge” rule will increase hunger and poverty in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE—Economic justice and immigrant rights organizations will hold a press conference Wednesday at 11 a.m. to discuss how the Trump administration’s reckless new attack on immigrant families—a greatly expanded “Public Charge” rule—will impact New Mexico and how people can oppose it. If the proposed rule were to go into effect, it would allow the government to deny green cards and visa renewals to lawfully present immigrants who participate in programs that help with basic needs like medical care, food, and housing.

Trump’s new rule dramatically expands the list of programs that jeopardize immigration status to include nearly all available basic need programs like Medicaid, housing assistance, and SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. The Public Charge rule currently only considers receipt of cash benefits and institutional care as a reason to deny lawfully-present immigrants visa renewals or to deny their applications for legal residency.

WHAT:
Press conference on proposed Public Charge rule that would allow the government to deny green cards and visa renewals to lawfully-present immigrants who participate in programs that help with basic needs like medical care, food, and housing.

WHO:
Centro Savila
EL CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos
New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty
New Mexico Immigration Law Center

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Centro Savila improves the mental health of our community by ensuring access to linguistically and culturally relevant, quality mental health and prevention services, education and healthcare professional development.

EL CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos is a grassroots, immigrants’ rights and workers’ justice organization based in Central New Mexico that works with Latino immigrant communities and allies to defend, strengthen, and advance the rights of our community.

The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty is dedicated to advancing economic and social justice through education, advocacy, and litigation. We work with low-income New Mexicans to improve living conditions, increase opportunities, and protect the rights of people living in poverty.

SANTA FE—Access to quality and affordable child care is critical for working families and parents who are in school. Unfortunately, the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department has been illegally and arbitrarily denying eligible families much needed child care assistance. Several parents and OLÉ, represented by the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, sued the agency late yesterday in First Judicial District Court for violating New Mexico’s state laws and constitution.

“We should all be able to go to work knowing we’re leaving our children in good hands,” said Annette Torres, one of the plaintiffs in the Torres v Jacobson lawsuit. “I really cannot tell you how devastated I was when CYFD denied me child care assistance. It’s just been a tremendous struggle to make ends meet. Without child care, I wouldn’t be able to work.”

Families represented in the lawsuit include a parent who will not be able to return to her managerial job because she cannot afford full time child care. Instead, she will take another job with a different employer for less hours and lower wages. Other parents in the lawsuit are preschool teachers and a medical assistant who cannot afford the ever changing and unpredictable co-pays, some as high as $400 a month, that CYFD assigns to them.

The Torres v Jacobson lawsuit claims that CYFD illegally established a policy of denying child care assistance to families with incomes over 150 percent of the federal poverty level—a yearly income of $31,170 for a family of three—without publishing a regulation or going through the required public comment and hearing process. CYFD’s own regulations state that the eligibility for child care assistance is considerably higher, set at 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Families still experience financial hardship even with incomes above 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

CYFD also illegally turns away families looking for child care assistance without informing them of their right to challenge a denial of benefits.

“We know that the earliest years in children’s lives are the most important in their development and lay the foundation for all that is to come,” said Monica Ault, attorney with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. “All working families need access to affordable childcare and preschool that they can trust. Families denied child care assistance have had to turn down work opportunities, drop out of school, or are forced to seek alternative care that is often low-quality and not developmentally appropriate for their children.”

When CYFD does provide child care assistance, it illegally forces families to shell out unaffordable co-pays without explanation of how it determined the amounts. CYFD’s methods for calculating copayment amounts are arbitrary and have not been established through a public and transparent rulemaking process as required by law. The agency will not explain how it determines copayments beyond saying that the computer system does it.

The federal government has established seven percent of income as a benchmark of affordability for child care assistance. However, CYFD sets co-payments considerably higher for a large share of families. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit shoulder child care costs of over 10 percent of family income.

“Our family has had to make many sacrifices so that my wife and I can go to work knowing that our children are getting safe, quality care,” said John Cambra whose wife is a plaintiff. “It’s been incredibly difficult to make things work. Our co-pays were so high that we’ve had to go without transportation and ask our families to help us with things like diapers and wipes for our children.”

“One often insurmountable barrier to financial security for many families is the high cost of child care, and this is especially true for low-wage workers,” added Traeshaun Buffin a community organizer at OLÉ. “The astronomical costs prevent tens of thousands of New Mexican families with children from accessing meaningful work and educational opportunities. CYFD should stop denying eligible families the child care assistance they need. CYFD needs to adopt standards with public input to make the program affordable and predictable.”

The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty is dedicated to advancing economic and social justice through education, advocacy, and litigation. We work with low-income New Mexicans to improve living conditions, increase opportunities, and protect the rights of people living in poverty.

OLÉ is a non-profit, who uses grassroots organizing within the local community of working families in New Mexico. Our members and staff work together to strengthen our communities through social advocacy and economic reform, using issue-based campaigns and electoral engagement to ensure that working families are playing a critical role in shaping New Mexico’s future with a united voice.

ALBUQUERQUE—Access to quality and affordable child care is critical for working families and parents who are in school. Unfortunately, the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department has illegally denied much needed child care assistance to eligible families. Working parents and OLÉ, represented by the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, will hold a press conference this Wednesday announcing a lawsuit against CYFD for violating New Mexico’s statutory and constitutional law.

CYFD illegally denies child care assistance to families with incomes over 150 percent of the federal poverty level—a yearly income of $31,170 for a family of three. CYFD’s own regulations state that the cut off for child care assistance eligibility is over 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

CYFD also fails to inform families of their right to challenge denials. When CYFD does provide child care assistance, it illegally forces families to shell out unaffordable co-pays without explanation of how it determined the arbitrary amounts.

The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty is dedicated to advancing economic and social justice through education, advocacy, and litigation. We work with low-income New Mexicans to improve living conditions, increase opportunities, and protect the rights of people living in poverty.

OLÉ is a non-profit, who uses grassroots organizing within the local community of working families in New Mexico. Our members and staff work together to strengthen our communities through social advocacy and economic reform, using issue-based campaigns and electoral engagement to ensure that working families are playing a critical role in shaping New Mexico’s future with a united voice.

ALBUQUERQUE—In a reckless new attack on immigrant families, the Trump administration has proposed a federal rule that would allow the government to deny green cards and visa renewals to immigrants who have participated in programs that help with basic needs like medical care, food, and housing.

The rule change primarily impacts lawfully present immigrants applying for green cards and immigrants seeking entry to the U.S. through family-based petitions. It will significantly disrupt access to food, healthcare, and shelter for millions of immigrant families nationwide and hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans.

“No family should have to choose between meeting basic needs and being with their loved ones,” said Sovereign Hager, legal director at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.

Trump’s new rule drastically expands the list of programs that jeopardize immigration status to include nearly all available basic need programs like Medicaid and SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. The “public charge” rule currently only considers receipt of cash benefits and institutional care as a public charge reason to deny immigrants admission to U.S. or to deny their application for legal residency. The new rule will not be retroactive, so the current use of food and medical benefits do not fall under the proposed rule.

19.8 million children in the U.S. live with at least one immigrant parent. When eligible family members cannot access food assistance because they fear immigration consequences, the entire family has reduced access to food. Nearly five million citizen children and at least 30,000 U.S. citizen children in New Mexico may face a reduction in food benefits.

“The latest scheme unfairly changes the rules for families who’ve waited for years to be reunited,” said Sireesha Manne, executive director at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. “It creates a pay-to-play immigration system where green cards go to the highest bidders in wealthier households.”

The Trump administration’s policy agenda is already causing immigrants to forgo crucial assistance for themselves and their citizen children for fear of being targeted for deportation. By penalizing families for accepting help with food and medical care for which they are eligible, the policy will increase inequality and make us a sicker, hungrier, poorer nation.

The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty denounces this cruel and reckless public charge proposal. In the weeks and months to come, the organization will work tirelessly to mobilize with state and national partners to oppose the proposed rule.

“The best way to strengthen our country is to ensure that all families who live in it can meet their basic needs. All families have a human right to food, medical care, and shelter to thrive and contribute to their communities and our country,” said Hager. “These cruel attacks on immigrant families must stop for our nation to end inequality and increase opportunity.”

Together, we must stop the Trump administration’s new attack on immigrant families!

Yesterday evening, the Department of Homeland Security proposed a revised “public charge” rule that threatens access to food, medical, and housing assistance for millions of lawfully present immigrant families. It allows the federal government to block immigrants from becoming legal permanent residents or “green card” holders have used public benefits like food and medical assistance for which they are eligible.

The new “public charge” rule greatly expands the list of programs that jeopardize immigration status to include nearly all available basic need programs like Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

If it goes into effect, many families will have no choice but to forgo critical assistance for fear of family members being denied a green card, putting them at greater risk of falling into poverty. It will also allow the administration to significantly shift the U.S. legal immigration system away from family-based immigration without the approval of Congress.

By Sovereign Hager, legal director

New Mexico has a two-tiered driver’s license system that gives New Mexicans the choice to opt in or out of the federal REAL ID Act requirements. However, the Motor Vehicles Division was illegally denying access to the REAL ID alternative by requiring unnecessary and burdensome paperwork. MVD also illegally denied licenses and IDs without informing people that they could appeal a denial.

On behalf of New Mexicans illegally denied the second tier licenses and IDs, the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty along with Somos un Pueblo Unido, New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, the ACLU-NM, and Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg Urias & Ward PA sued the state and the MVD ultimately agreed to a settlement.

After filing for a temporary restraining order, the MVD immediately eliminated the illegal requirement to get a non-REAL ID and agreed to notify families about the appeals process. The final settlement agreement requires MVD to train workers, provide accurate informational materials to the public and on its website, and to engage in a public information campaign to notify New Mexicans of the new requirements.

SANTA FE, NM – On Tuesday, civil rights groups and homeless advocates announced a settlement agreement reached in a lawsuit against the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department and the Motor Vehicles Division that requires the state to properly implement its two-tiered driver’s license law and take much-needed steps to ensure New Mexicans can more easily access to an alternative to the federal REAL ID as state legislators intended.

“Everyday New Mexicans came out on top today,” said David Coss, former mayor of Santa Fe and lead plaintiff in the lawsuit filed in January. “I look forward to finally obtaining my state license knowing that other people won’t have to go through the difficult and frustrating process I did. I believe that government should create opportunities for residents to get ahead, not barriers that get in their way. This settlement ensures fewer barriers and restored access to these essential documents.”

The lawsuit Coss v. Monforte challenged the MVD’s regulations governing the issuance of non-REAL ID driver’s licenses and identification cards, including the illegal practices of requiring proof of an “identification number” and not providing adequate due process to applicants who were denied a credential. The roll out of those regulations caused many applicants across the state to be wrongly denied a license or ID, and in countless cases, it triggered multiple visits to MVD and other government agencies for additional documentation not required by law.

On Friday afternoon, Santa Fe First Judicial District Court Judge David K. Thomson signed the settlement agreement between MVD, organizational plaintiffs and individual plaintiffs delineating what the MVD must do to have the case dismissed with prejudice.

Under the settlement agreement, the MVD will:

No longer require proof of an identification number, such as a social security number, to apply for a Driving Authorization Card (DAC) or non-federally compliant identification card.

Implement new regulations that will only require proof of New Mexico residency, identity and age for a non-REAL ID credential.

Expand the list of acceptable documents to show proof of New Mexico residency, identity and age.

Inform applicants who are denied a DAC or non-federally compliant identification card on the basis of a fingerprint background check of the reason for the denial, evidence the applicant can provide MVD to resolve the denial and information on how to appeal a denial and the timeframe for doing so.

Provide additional training to MVD clerks and public information regarding the new rules and policies.

In 2016, New Mexico lawmakers created a two-tiered driver’s license system that gives New Mexicans the choice to opt in or out of the federal REAL ID Act. While the state law requires MVD to provide a REAL ID-compliant license or ID card to New Mexicans who can meet the federal government’s burdensome requirements, the MVD is also required to issue a non-REAL ID license or ID card to eligible applicants who do not meet the federal requirements or simply do not want a REAL ID.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit included senior citizens, immigrants, and homeless New Mexicans who need a license or ID to go to work or school, obtain housing, medical care or other necessities.

Individual plaintiffs who were denied licenses and ID cards are joined by organizational plaintiffs New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness and Somos Un Pueblo Unido in the lawsuit. David Urias of Freedman, Boyd, Hollander Goldberg Urias & Ward, P.A. is the lead counsel on the legal team that includes attorneys from Somos, ACLU-NM, and the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.

The defendants in the lawsuit are the NMTRD, acting Cabinet Secretary John Monforte, the MVD, and Acting Director Alicia Ortiz.

The following are additional statements from plaintiff organizations and the legal team:

“A broad coalition of community groups, public safety advocates and legislators has worked together over a 15-year span to ensure that all New Mexicans have the ability to apply for a license or ID, critical tools in navigating every day life,” said Marcela Díaz, Executive Director of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, an organizational plaintiff in the lawsuit. “The onerous and misguided federal REAL ID Act threatened our common sense licensing policies, but the Legislature pushed back and gave us a real alternative that meets the needs of New Mexicans. We are satisfied that through this agreement, citizens and non-citizens alike will have access to accurate information about the non-REAL ID license, as well as a more efficient process to obtain it.”

“This agreement is an important victory for New Mexicans experiencing homelessness,” said Hank Hughes, Executive Director of New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness. “Obtaining an identification card is often the first step for someone who has lost everything, as they put their life back together. This agreement removes the unnecessary barriers that were in place with the old regulations.”

“We’re relieved the MVD has agreed to stop asking New Mexicans to provide unnecessary documentation in order to get a non-REAL ID license or ID,” said Sovereign Hager, legal director at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. “MVD’s decision to comply with our state law benefits all New Mexicans, but especially families who do not have a stable place to live or consistent employment. An ID or driver’s license is a basic necessity to do just about anything. Without one, you can’t drive, fill a prescription, cash a check, find housing, or get job to support your family. We hope MVD will continue to work on common sense improvements that will streamline access to IDs and licenses for all New Mexicans.”

“We applaud the professionalism of MVD officials in hammering out this agreement with our organizations,” said Gabriela Ibañez Guzmán, staff attorney with Somos Un Pueblo Unido and co-counsel in the lawsuit. “The settlement represents a sensible solution that will benefit hardworking New Mexicans and ensure that people are not left without a driver’s license or ID.”

“The federal REAL ID was a bad law that imposed unnecessary identification requirements on New Mexico residents,” said ACLU of New Mexico executive director Peter Simonson. “In its wisdom, the Legislature passed a law to ensure compliance while also guaranteeing our most vulnerable residents have opportunity to continue access to a driver’s license or state ID and today’s settlement agreement allows that purpose to be fulfilled. That said, we believe there is more work to do to ensure New Mexico residents aren’t left out due to fingerprinting requirements and other obstacles.”

ALBUQUERQUE— On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed its farm bill, which protects and strengthens the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 86-11. The Senate’s bill is in stark contrast to the partisan House farm bill narrowly passed last week, which if passed, would restrict food assistance to millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands New Mexicans through cuts and harmful changes to SNAP.

The House and Senate will now need to negotiate a final farm bill before sending it to the White House for President Trump’s signature.

“The Senate farm bill strengthens SNAP and protects millions of Americans’ access to healthy food. This is great news for New Mexico where SNAP is of particular importance. Over 450,000 New Mexicans rely on SNAP to put food on the table, including 40 percent of the state’s young children,” said Maria Griego, supervising attorney at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. “Congress should use the Senate farm bill as a basis for its final legislation. We urge our elected leaders to negotiate a final, bi-partisan bill that remains faithful to the Senate’s approach. We need a farm bill that grows income and employment opportunities for all Americans and bolsters, not weakens our country’s most effective anti-hunger program.”

The Senate bill would provide for modest improvements to SNAP’s operations and administration. It also would expand the 2014 farm bill’s pilot program to test new approaches to job training and other employment-related activities for SNAP participants.

Should a farm bill that is closer to the House’s version pass, up to 121,000 New Mexicans would face termination of SNAP, while tens of thousands of children and other family members would face reduced benefits for up to three years.